This project takes a fresh approach to marketing energy efficiency. It emphasizes joy and imagination rather than fear. Instead of focusing on global warming, we invite people to play with a paper pig.

A funny thing happened when we released Rakafuki Friends – they started checking in from all corners of the globe. Here's Lucy Lumen checking out the sunny beaches in Sri Lanka.

The gang takes a tour
through Paris!

Viola Volt visiting friends
in S. Korea

Energy efficiency of smiles

​The Rakafuki Friends are energy efficient LED light bulbs, packaged as cute animals. Celery developed the concept, piloted it locally, and opened a small web shop offering these unique products for sale. It was soon discovered by popular blogs like Coolhunting and Daily Beast, and began growing internationally. We are currently rolling out the 2nd generation Rakafuki Friends, which are nearly twice as bright as the originals.

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Early prototypes

​​The Celery team created dozens and dozens of packaging prototypes in the process of evolving the initial concept into a production-ready design.

The test run

​The initial test run was cut and silk screened by hand, and included five characters. We settled on three characters for the first generation production run (alas, the reindeer and penguin didn’t make the cut).

A unique fundraiser

We partnered with Rosa Parks Elementary to pilot the project. The school’s PTA group sold Rakafuki Friends for six weeks, with all proceeds benefiting the school. This resulted in some interesting synergies: members of the community save energy, the school raises money, and kids learn about energy efficiency and cutting edge LED technology. The design of the Rakafuki Friends made the project accessible to audiences (kids and most their families) who would not otherwise have made the effort to learn about or try LED lighting.